In this video Mike from IDParts.com will replace the shift carrier and shift lever on a 1999 Golf TDI. This process applies to any early MkIV models as well as all MkIII Jetta and B4 Passat TDIs.
Transcript:
Hi, I’m Mike from Idparts, and this is a 1999 Golf TDI that we will be replacing a shift lever and shift carrier on today.
Right here we have a shift lever and shift carrier. They fit together like this. As you can see, there’s a couple wear points. This smaller diameter will tend to break, or this area will tend to wear, causing problems shifting in the car.
So we’ve already removed the battery box and the airbox to give us some room to work here. The first step is we’re going to remove the counterbalance, which is held on by this 13mm bolt. Then, we’re going to remove the two shift cables, which are just held on by a clip, which is held on by a 13mm bolt as well.
With everything out of the way, next we’re going to take this 13mm nut off to take off the plastic shift carrier & the shift lever.
This bolt is stuck, so we’re going to use some penetrating lube to loosen it up.
Now that we have the old lever out, we’re going to install our new lever and carrier.
So we’ve just finished putting on the lever and the carrier, and now we’re going to loosely put the nut on the for the shift carrier, attaching the first cable and then putting the bolt on for the second cable and the counterbalance.
Here’s the bolt for the shift cable. As you can see underneath, there’s a square nut that goes in the actual shifter housing. Sometimes that can fall off while removing everything else, so if it doesn’t screw in properly, you may have lost it.
Finally we’re going to put on the counterbalance. As you can see, there’s a little nipple here that needs to go into the female hole. And then finally the bolt for the counterbalance.
We need to adjust the shifting. What we’re going to do is tighten the nut where it is and see how the shifter feels at that point, and afterwards a final adjustment could be made.
